Oh my, that is a ways back, isn't it? I would compare these, then, more to spirits than to tools. They are not made of matter-- at the moment, neither are we-- but of information. They are created, but by something that simply doesn't exist in your time period.

But since we are also currently made of the same stuff, we can interact with them. You've heard them mention "users" I presume? Those would be people on the outside of the system we've been transported into. The creators, I assume, or at least the people meant to make use of these spirit-programs.